Interlude: Between Three Months
by DriannaHarper
Summary: What happened in the three months the boys were gone. Or, how even the Hulk gives hugs. (Part 8 of the Couch Series


Darcy oof's as she and the Hulk land. He pauses over her for a minute, before taking off back into the fight. She ducks down under a coffee shop awning, and starts a play-by-play with Jarvis.

After the day is saved, and she's elbowed her way behind the counter to make herself a large cup of coffee, she steps outside to sit on the curb. There are loud steps and some startled screams as her Science!bro sidles up, and sits down next to her. She leans on his arm.

"Did you smash like a master, dude?"

He nods. "Smash. Like a boss."

"Damned right, you did. I am such a good influence on you," she says as she cuddles him. "Did you leave my dummies alone?"

He snorts. "Buck stupid."

She burrows further into his side. "Yeah, he really is, honey. But that's for me and him to work out, okay? He and Cap have to do their thing, and then I'll have to figure my thing out with James. "

"Stupid."

"You are so right, man. But sometimes, we're stupid. Like puny Banner."

The Hulk growls. He doesn't like the reminder of puny Banner. But he still has an arm wrapped softly around Darcy.

"Makes Darcy sad."

Sighing, she nods. "Yeah, man. He is making me sad. But that's because he thinks he isn't good enough, when I like him just the way he is. It's a head thing, and he has to get through it. It just sucks I can't help."

The Hulk takes a minute to think about that. "Cap stupid too."

"Oh, my GOD, dude, in SO many ways. He is SO into his crush and won't do anything about it. And he leaves his uniform in the bathroom. Like I'M going to clean it. I DO get to spin around in his shield, though, and sometimes he spins me REALLY fast…" she trails off.

"But… I still have you, and Tony, and Jarvis, and Jane, right? You aren't going to leave?"

She's lifted onto a large thigh and feels a giant cheek rest softly on her head. "Darcy has Hulk. And puny Banner. And Science."

With only a slight sniffle, she retorts, "Well, thank fuck for that. I don't know what I'd do without Science! You better pinky swear on that, though."

She offers up her pinky, which can barely budge the Other Guy. "Totally pinky sworn. I'm'a call you on it, if I need to."

"Jane, you don't need to distract me with Science!, dude. I'm okay on my own, I have been for, like, years, now."

"But there are irregularities-" Jane starts.

"And solar… things… this is not my area of expertise, sorry," Thor offers.

"It's gravy, yo. I have to catch the train soon, so I'm out of here."

"That's just it, Darce," Jane sighs. "We've been putting it off, but…we want you to move in here. On our floor, with us. We have a whole floor. And the suites have plenty of space."

"I'm fine, guys. I have an apartment-, "Darcy starts.

"We don't like you being there alone," Jane cuts her off. "I'm sorry, I really am, but it's been weeks. After the last few attacks near your place? Jarvis can't keep you safe on his own. Please, Darce? If not for you, do it for us? We're all worried about you, we want to make sure you're okay."

There isn't a coherent response. Not really. Darcy tries to argue. But she starts crying first, and Jane has her in a hug before she doubles over sobbing.

The look on Thor's face is pretty damned dire. He, Tony, Clint, and Bruce have her things from the apartment moved to the Tower by the next day. Darcy is still burrowed in Jane's guest room.

She does a walk through the apartment the next day. And the day after. And the next. To make sure they haven't been ghosting it.  
They haven't.

She's been living in the Tower for three days when they get the first report of a Hydra base being taken down by the Winter Soldier. Of course, Captain America is there six hours later. She and Jarvis update as much as they can.

She doesn't expect to come face to face with Tony Stark. Not over anything but his food intake, his paperwork (which Pepper insisted was no longer her job), or her being a lab monkey. He NEVER sought her out.

"Lewis. Take a ride down to my pad."

Down in the workshop, she gives a wave to You and Butterfingers, makes a face at Dumm-E, and follows.

"Here, hold this," Tony barks as he hands her a… thing?

"Sadly, I am SO used to holding your 'thing', and it isn't even a sex thing. What the hell am I holding for you, and is it going to, like, nuke my innards?"

"You just moved into the Tower."

She freezes. "Is that going to be a problem?"

"It might be, since I offered you space EONS ago, and you said no. Why'd you move out of the apartment? I liked it, it was comfy."

"I don't like living alone."

He pauses, and then twists around at the waist to see her, and he raises an eyebrow. This time, he seems to see the shadows under her eyes, and the worry line in her forehead.

"They're idiots. I would know, I was one for a very long time."

"Tony-"

"No, nuh uh, we're not doing the 'feelings' conversation. I'm setting up a suite on their floor for you for once they get their shit together. Use it. Own it. Make sure it smells like you and all that. They're stupid, but they'll get their shit together."

"I'm not letting go of the apartment."

"Fine. I'll buy the building, and you can play chicken as long as you want to. But if you decide to stop waiting? You have a floor. This is your home, whether it's a suite on Thor's level, or Cap's, or your own."

"Tony-"

"No, nu-uh, don't look like you're- fuck, you're hugging me, why are you- shit, now you're crying. PEPPER!"

In the end, Darcy stuck with her own apartment on Thor's floor. The security alarm went off every night, because someone creeping the building liked to watch her sleep.

She finally goes down onto what's been assigned as her floor a month after she's officially moved into the tower. Wandering off the elevator and making her way to the door to the main suite, she sighs before swiping her card and opening the door. She steps into-

Her. The whole living room. It's her, personified. The collage she made of pics from Puente Antiguo. The pictures she'd taken of the team, and pasted randomly on her wall in the apartment. Her bed spread she'd bought in Tromso, since the nights were a little colder than she was used to. Anything that wasn't in her room on Thor's floor, was here.

There was a skeleton key hanging from a hook by the door. She knew that key, it was for the old house the family had lived in when she was seven. A badly misshapen candle holder she'd given a random aunt for their birthday. Some jewelry from a great grandmother that didn't come to Darcy, but to an older relative.

She moves further into the suite. The kitchen has her favorite teas, groceries in the fridge, even the specialty frozen pizza she can only find in whole food shops. The bathroom has her shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, even her toothpaste.

The bedroom makes her stop. Her grandmother's hope chest was at the foot of the bed. That had been given away a decade ago, when the family had to move in a hurry.

And in her closet, was Pepper freaking Potts. Shoes off, cross legged, staring at an open luggage bag.

"Umm… Miss Potts?"

Pepper looked up, startled. "Darcy! I didn't… this isn't what it looks like."

"I'm… not sure what it SHOULD look like. What's going on?"

"I just…," Pepper looked at a loss. Darcy plopped down next to her, and waited for her to continue.

"I know what it's like, to have your life be all over the place. And how it's nice to have something of yours to come home to."

"That's really nice of you to do, Miss Potts, but-," she started.

"It's Pepper. And I hate to talk over you, but I kind of have to at this point, because I'm used to dealing with Tony, and I miss this, but I don't, and I know where you are."

The rant ends with both of them staring at each other. Finally, the brunette breaks the silence.

"Oh, you know where I am, do you?"

Pepper nods, eyes narrowed.

"Do you happen to be Jarvis' best friend?"

Pepper now looks confused. "Thought so. Hey, Jay? Miss Potts and I are away on business. And can you ask Jane to come up to my floor? And let her know PA Ipod Thief 2."

"What does that mean, Miss Lewis?"

"That means, I'm calling you Pepper, you're calling me Darcy, and we're going to drink tequila and cheap beer while we rant about how stupid our fella's are. Tony is officially not allowed to contact any of us unless the world is ending, and Jane's on her way up, believe me, she's down for this. Are we doing this in the closet, or in the living room?"

"Can we start here?"

"Abso-tivley. Just give me a second."

Darcy then grabs a coat hanger, climbs the shoe rack to the closest vent, and starts poking through the slats. "Out-of-there, Barton. Give it an hour, show up, and we'll do your nails."

There's a muffled snort as Pepper and Darcy hear someone slithering away. "Does Clint really hang out in your vents?"

"He doesn't in yours?"

Hawkeye ends up with the prettiest nails. Then again, he ends up in a dogpile with three pretty ladies passed out drooling on him, so he can't really complain. He makes breakfast and coffee for all three in the morning, and notes that he still needs to beat the crap out of some unappreciative men. Or maybe let Nat do it. She'd enjoy it more, and he does like watching her beat the snark out of anyone that isn't him.

It takes longer than she'd like (and far more baked goods than she wanted to feed a carnie), before Clint admitted to tracking her things down.

Granted, Pep gave him a lot of free cars and air travel, but still. She wasn't sure how he knew which markets to go to or what shifty family he had to pay. She repays him in bad movie marathons, home cooked dinners, stitching up his really bad wounds, and not tattling on him.

She sighs, every time she has to NOT say something. But she holds her tongue. They both better appreciate it.

Also, the giant prank war that erupted when he got shot and wouldn't go to the hospital about it may have solidified their friendship. He DID get super pissed when she got him drunk on super soldier brew and got Banner to fix him up.

No one will admit as to why he woke up from that coma having neon green tips on his hair.

(Post Matchmaking is Easier with Science! and a Hulk)

It takes the guys a while to realize that while Darcy spends a lot of time in her suite on their floor, she isn't there often.

It makes them figure out just how often they're gone.

She spends movie nights in their apartment, occasionally spends the night with Bucky. But she's gone more often than not.

They never knock on her door, they just expect her to show up, like she always did.

When she and Bucky go to hers, it's always her taking him to her suite on Steve's floor.

It's not until they realize she isn't around that they ask Jarvis where she is. "Miss Lewis is in her suite on her floor."

Suddenly, it doesn't seem as though they've made as much progress as they thought.


End file.
